I'm Sorry, I've Been Away...

Hard to believe that it's been a full 12 months since I ran the NYC marathon. A few minor things have changed since my last post on this site...let me summarize

- I had hip surgery

- I turned 30

- I quit my job

- I moved to New York

Frankly, I'm still recovering from all of those things. Living in New York is something I have always dreamed about. The transition to the city has been a surprisingly easy one--granted, if you asked me for my thoughts on August 1st when I showed up with no place to live and no long terms plans for where to sleep until my apartment was ready, I might have indicated otherwise.

Now I am settled in the Upper East Side and feeling very much at home.

One thing you may not know about NYC is that there is food literally everywhere. Sure there are fancy pants places to eat like Per Se and Daniel...but those are for special occasions...like a Tuesday...when you are paying. I have already found my favorite gyro place, favorite bagel shop, favorite diner, favorite cupcake and, of course, my favorite pizza place. The list just keeps on growing. I'm in heaven.

You'd think that all of the walking I do would offset said gyro-bagel-diner-cupcake-pizza-apoluza. You'd be mistaken.

With the lingering pain I am still dealing with in my hip and my basic desire to sleep at all times (in some future post we will discuss the wonder of working nights at a luxury hotel and the joyous effects this has on my sleeping schedule), I am teetering on the edge of disappointing myself when it comes to my weight and general fitness goals. Correction...I have fallen off the edge, but am hanging to a branch that will either break and send me plummeting or will rocket me back upwards onto stable ground--Wylie Coyote styles.

Last Sunday was the 2011 NYC marathon. I wrenched myself out of bed at noon (after 2 hours of sleep) and walked the block down to 1st Avenue. As I approached the runners I could see the participants streaming past me at earth shattering speeds. I thought "I must have looked like such a bad ass last year." It was at this point that I realized the people I was watching were on pace to finish the marathon in approximately 3 hours. Trust me...I looked nothing like those people.

After reconvening with my bed, I awoke later to cheer on "my people"...the ones who were on pace to finish the marathon in 5 hours or more. I walked down to Central Park South and set up my own personal cheering section in the middle of marathon way. Within minutes of watching those exhausted, weary, agonized souls trudging the last few pain filled steps to the finish line, I knew I wanted to do it again.

So...here we go people...it's off to the races.

This blog is going to be a little different than last time. If you recall, I wanted to start a blog to keep people posted on my training status because I was raising money for Fred's Team...the charity I ran with during the NYC marathon. I pretty much limited my blog entries to running related items...frankly, folks, I have given all there is to give when it comes to running exposition. So, no more running-only boundaries.

I also am going to focus a little bit more on my general fitness goals. Since running the New York City marathon I have gained back about 30 pounds of the 90 pounds that I lost. That is not something I am proud of. When I initially lost my weight and passed the sub-300 pound mark, I told myself that never again would I weight more than 300 pounds. Well, I failed myself in that regard and I feel like I have failed you too. When I stepped on my scale last week, it read 303. I cannot express to you the disappointment I felt at that discovery. I feel like I have let a lot of people down, but particularly, I know that I have not lived up to my own potential--which, of course, hurts the most.

This, however, will not be a pity party. Instead, it's going to be an embarrassment free forum for me to talk about all of the ridiculous things I am doing. To gloat about my successes and to air my frustrations about my set backs. I'm going to make some interesting changes and try some new stuff.

So here we go...